Canada priest accused of spying on Hizbollah, army (Beirut)

[Nambe]

BEIRUT, Aug. 1 — A Canadian priest detained by Lebanese authorities and charged with collaborating with Israel spied on Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas and its army on behalf of the Jewish state, judicial sources said on Friday.

The 52-year-old priest was arrested at Beirut airport in July after the charge against him and an arrest warrant were filed in absentia earlier this year. Another Canadian who is not in custody was also charged then, the sources said.

The sources said the priest visited and resided in Lebanon frequently since Israel's 1982 invasion of the country, and that he and the other defendant spied on Hizbollah and Lebanon's army while purporting to work on a reforestation project last year. ---

No comment was immediately available from the Canadian embassy about the priest, whose first hearing in Lebanon's military court is scheduled for August 11. ---